Editor’s note: Each Sunday throughout the season, The Denver Post’s Broncos reporters help readers get to know the players on a more personal level.

You have to listen closely to Ryan McBean to catch it, but it’s there. Jamaica.

It has been more than a decade since McBean left Jamaica, where he lived until he was about 15, and though he has tried hard to shake the accent, he thinks often of his home country. Hanging in his locker is a photo of him and his father on the beach, and he loves Caribbean food and music.

“You can never forget where you came from,” McBean said.

McBean’s Jamaica isn’t what you see on postcards or resort brochures. But his rough upbringing in Kingston has only made him that much more grateful for his current life in the NFL, where he’s in his second season on the Broncos’ active roster. He started last year at defensive end and is a rotational line player.

It took some legwork to get McBean ready for this week’s trip to London, because he’s the only Bronco who is not an American citizen. He has his green card, and he has to wait two more years before he’s eligible to become a citizen.

Q: Can you tell me about your childhood in Kingston?

A: It wasn’t really good or bad. It was different, though. My parents had just gotten divorced, so it wasn’t too much “life.” It was more survival. I stayed at a foster home for a little bit.

Q: That must have been difficult. Did that make you grow up faster?

A: I was young and naive. I knew what was going on somewhat, but I didn’t try to think too much about it so it wouldn’t bother me.

Q: What do you mean, “What was going on”?

A: As far as how things were. I grew up without water, without electricity. We would fill up barrels of water to shower with, to cook with, all that stuff. But it was what it was, just trying to get by every day.

Q: How did you end up getting from there to the United States?

A: My mom came up here and she worked as a maid until she gained enough money to fly me and my brother out when I was 14 or 15.

Q: What was that reunion like for the family? (McBean is the youngest of five.)

A: It was a restart, really. We started everything over. A new country, a new place. A new life. It was exciting because I hadn’t seen my brothers and sisters in a long time. It had been awhile since we were all in the same place.

Q: Have you been back to Jamaica since? Do you still have family there?

A: My dad is still there, and his family. I went back last year for the first time. I didn’t go back home. I went to a resort. I gave thanks and blessings, because that’s not something I ever thought I’d be able to do. I got to see my dad for the first time in 12 years. It was very emotional. We got to hang out, talk, reminisce about some stuff and talk about the past. We’re still trying to get that chemistry that was lost.

Q: What about mom (Donnett McBean)?

A: She’s been the stronghold in my life. I bought her first car. I remember when I was 5 years old, she told me she liked black BMWs, and I was able to buy that for it. Last year. She loved it. She washes the car in the rain.

Q: How was it that you got into football?

A: I didn’t know anything about football until we moved to Texas. I was just trying to find something to do after school. I didn’t want to go home and have nothing to do. So I decided to throw on some football pads and hit people for the fun of it.

Q: When did you realize it was something you were good at?

A: They lined me up one-on-one in the Oklahoma drill and there was a senior in front of me. I was a junior at the time. The ball was snapped, and it was over. I was a starter after that.

Q: How has your childhood shaped your view of the world now that you’re in the NFL?

A: Every situation you’re in, each day you have a situation and something you can learn from. You’re not done growing; you’re not done learning. Your life isn’t set. It does make me look back at times and think, “I came from nothing.” What are you going to do with that? You can’t be nothing. That gives me the motor to keep on growing through whatever happens in life.

Want a reason why the state of Colorado will be back in the NCAA Tournament in 2020? The Colorado Buffaloes have received 96.1 percent of their scoring, 96.9 percent of their rebounds and 97.3 percent of their assists from players other than seniors this winter. Up at Colorado State, first-year coach Niko Medved got 79.1 percent of his points, 88.8...